Jakarta: Mohammad Akbar arrived in Indonesia four years ago with two other friends but even after receiving confirmation of his refugee status a year later, he still has no idea which country he will be resettled in.
"We have been waiting with the refugee card for three years and nothing, nobody even wants to talk to us, no one even values us as a human being," says the 30-year-old refugee from Afghanistan.
Abdulqadir Mansour Awad Khalil and his family have been living here for the last 3½ years, also waiting for news of resettlement.
The 28-year-old man Sudanese has three children and for his youngest daughter Salma, aged five, life as a refugee is all she can remember.
"Now, they can't study, they can't go to school," he said.
The frustration of years of living with uncertainty in Indonesia spilled onto the streets on Monday with about 30 refugees rallying outside the United Nations Refugee Agency in Jakarta demanding answers.
The protest follows US President Donald Trump's executive order last month suspending the entry of refugees into the United States for 120 days.
The suspension will have a significant impact on refugees in Indonesia, given the US had recently taken over from Australia as the country that resettled most refugees from Indonesia.
Mr Akbar said he has been going to the UNHCR office every day for the last two months but every time he is either turned away or simply asked to fill out a form.
The refugee fled his country, leaving behind his mother and two sisters after his father, a former general in the Afghanistan army was killed by the Taliban.
"They [Taliban] kidnapped my father and dropped his dead body in front of my home and said, 'ok, next time it's for you'," he said.
However now in Indonesia, he is stuck in limbo and cannot see any future ahead of him.
"Now you tell me…who should we talk to? Where should we go? We don't have nobody," he said.
There are now about with 14,300 refugees and asylum seekers stranded in Indonesia on their way to other destination countries.
Mr Khalil said he and his family have to rely on the generosity of others and at night, they simply sleep on a mat with a tarpaulin to cover themselves. His older daughter, eight-year-old Samar, expressed her hopes in a letter she wrote to UNHCR staff: "I like Australia and I like school... I try to speak English".
Many of these refugees faced terrible conditions while being smuggled into Indonesia. For Suad Jibril Hillow, who arrived in the country just 20 days ago, the memory is still fresh in her mind.
"They will tell you to throw your passport and they will take all your money," said the 27-year-old woman from Somalia.
Ms Hillow said she is struggling to get by and has to sleep in different mosques every night.
Fairfax Media has contacted the UNHCR for comment.